Chapter 2

Daemon is jogging down the hallway to the room he has shared with Jaenelle for the past 12 years or so. As he approaches it he hears some sort of music drifting towards him, two voices singing in perfect harmony and or countermelody. One he recognizes as Jaenelle's soaring soprano, the other a rich and full-bodied alto. As he gets closer he begins to recognize what they are singing…witchsong. It was a song that told of an unspeakable longing from a great distance and the joy of being reunited again. When he reached the door he tried to turn the handle, only to find that it had been physically locked.

Right, there is another way into this room, he thought before trying to pass through the door. He managed to get through about half an inch before he met with a shield that he could not pass through, even using his Jewels. What in Mother Night's name? He tried the handle again, still locked but as he tried to pass through the door again he was able to pass through into his room and saw Jaenelle standing near the window with her back to him and Shaitara facing him. As he passed into the room he saw Shaitara crouch and then felt a blinding pain in the left side of his face. Then he saw nothing.

"Daemon!" shouted Jaenelle as she heard him hit the ground. "I hope you have a reason for whipping my husband's face, Princess," she said coldly.

"He should know better than to sneak up on me. I am after all a mixture of him and Lucivar. Would you sneak up on Lucivar?" After she got the negative response from Jaenelle. "Any way he should also have heeded my warnings for solitude with my queen."

"Where did you place these markers, Shai?"

"At the ends of the hallways."

"I was right outside the door," came the response from Daemon lying on the floor. He opened his eyes to see Jaenelle and himself leaning over him. No that can't be me. Even I'm not that feminine, am I? "Who are you?"

"I am Shaitara SaDiablo. Are you alright?"

"Other than having my face whipped?"

"Yes, Prince."

"Just dandy."

"You know what, had you said something before coming in none of this would have happened. I'm an assassin first and foremost, brother. Would you sneak up on Surreal or Lucivar when they are on the job?"

"No…"

"Exactly. Now if you don't mind, I might be able to heal that enough for you to be able to stand up," she interrupted.

"No I think I would rather Jaenelle…"

"Daemon, I can't heal you. I might be pregnant."

"Then call Karla or Gabrielle up here."

"Do you really want to deal with either of their tempers right now?" enquired Jaenelle.

"Alright go ahead and do the damn healing Miss SaDiablo."

"Princess SaDiablo, Prince Sadi, Princess SaDiablo," she corrected him.

"Fine, Princess. Will you heal my face now?"

"Yes, especially since we need to preserve its resemblance to my own," she said with a smile. She then hovered her hands over his face for a few seconds. He sat up slowly, Shaitara helped him to stand up. He wavered a little, at which point he realized that while she was quite a bit taller than Jaenelle she was still about half a foot shorter than him, because when he leaned on her she used her arms to support him rather than resting him against her body.

"I think I can walk on my own now, thank you."

"As you wish."

"Shaitara, where did you learn healing craft? He looks exactly like he did before."

"I didn't. I know certain healing spells that were useful when I was younger to help heal my friends."

"Where were you when you were younger that healing spells that prevent scarring were needed?"

"The slave pens of Lanzo SaDiablo. Dorothea had her toy boys of which you were a member, Lanzo had his pretty girls of which I was a member."

"But how did they get a hold of you, father didn't even know you existed."

"When Tersa had me, she gave me to a young widow who had recently miscarried. Her name was Sara, she raised me. I thought she was my mother until she was summoned before Dorothea and asked to bring me. By that point I had already gone through my birthright ceremony and learned how to hide my psychic scent. When we arrived you were lounging on a pillow at Dorothea's feet, we were told to walk up to the bottom of the dais and pay our homage. Dorothea recognized me by my face, which is so similar to your own. She suggested in Sara's mind that I needed court 'training' and that her husband would be happy to give it to me. Or something to that effect because at the moment that the training was suggested Lanzo and one of his cronies had come up on either side of me. Sara had no choice but to accept or watch me die. So I went into Lanzo's pretties, I learned enough healing craft to prevent scarring and to heal whatever damage was done by the Ring of Obedience. After 20 years of them trying to get into my pants and not succeeding they tried to have Dorothea break me, I gave her a scar worth remembering…but while I was trying to escape I saw you tied up in a corner of the room. You who had been the only one to ever try and help me. They caught me and…the less spoke of it the better. Eventually however, I escaped I was able to disguise myself to enter various training camps, Eyrien, Tacean, even one in Dena Nehele, before Lia died. Now there was a Queen…anyway I ended up in Chaillot in time to meet a very extraordinary witch, Witch in fact. And the rest as they say is history. I'm sorry I seem to have rambled on quite a bit, needless to say the past can shape who you are. Jaenelle, I need to collect a few things before I can do what we were talking about before. Oh, and the signs are dissolved. You can have your wife back now, Daemon." Upon saying this Shaitara walked out of the room and towards the landing pad for the Winds to collect her things.

"Jaenelle, who is she? I mean she acts as though she should be the one in charge of everything, but she doesn't even wear Jewels or have a psychic scent."

"Hiding things like that isn't that hard to accomplish especially when they wear darker Jewels than those around them. Let's go back to the party, I want to have some more fun before she gets back and all."

"Wait a minute first, how does my face look?"

"Perfect as usual," she said as she turned away to walk out the door again.

"Another thing," he said before he twirled her back into his arms and kissed the sense out of her.

"Maybe we can go back a little later…" she trailed off as she led him towards their bedroom.